Cardiovascular risk is often underassessed in women, and many women have screening mammograms in midlife, just when their risk of cardiovascular disease starts to rise. Researchers led by The George Institute for Global Health developed an AI model that predicts a woman’s risk of a major cardiovascular event using only routine mammogram images and her age.
The model was developed using data from 49,196 women in Australia, who were followed for a median of 8.8 years. It analyses a wide range of features in breast tissue, not just calcium deposits in the arteries, and performed as well as standard risk calculators that require medical history and other clinical information. Adding clinical factors improved its performance only slightly.
Because many women already have regular mammograms for breast cancer screening, this approach could offer a “two-for-one” check, without the need for extra appointments or medical records. The researchers note some limitations, such as differences between mammography machines, and say further work is needed before the tool can be used in practice.
Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2025-325705
Read the news here: https://www.georgeinstitute.org/news-and-media/news/new-ai-algorithm-uses-mammograms-to-accurately-predict-cardiovascular-risk-in-women
References:
Barraclough, J. Y., Gandomkar, Z., Fletcher, R. A., Barbieri, S., Kuo, N. I.-H., Rodgers, A., Douglas, K., Poppe, K. K., Woodward, M., Gallego Luxan, B., Neal, B., Jorm, L., Brennan, P., & Arnott, C. (2026). Predicting cardiovascular events from routine mammograms using machine learning. Heart, 112(5), 261–269.
Wall, T. (2025, September 17). New AI algorithm uses mammograms to accurately predict cardiovascular risk in women. The George Institute for Global Health.